You might think that it would be easy to trace the origins of a
sport. If you are researching a modern sports it easy; most of them
organized in the late nineteenth century. If you are examining a
local pastime an area's landscape should answer your questions, for
instance the Nigerian plains inspiring running races. But if you're
researching an ancient sport, tracing the origin is almost
impossible. Hurling is one of these sports.

Similar to a game depicted in ancient Egyptian cave drawings,
dated circa 2000 BCE, hurling is considered to be the oldest Irish
game. The first written record of this pre-Christian sport is a
mention in the Brehon Laws, compiled during the 5th century. No one
knows where the sport originated from and whether or not it was
native to Ireland or brought over from one of the many tribes that
conquered or settled in the Emerald Isle, but there are two theories
that link the ancient Irish to Egypt.

First, and most probably, is that hurling traveled with the
nomadic tribe known as the Celts when they first landed in Ireland
around 600 BCE. Linguistically the Celts belong to an Indo-European
culture, and it is known that they once lived in the Semitic
areas1. Another theory leads us back to the ancient
Milesian legends, which are written in Lebor Gabala Erren
(The Book of the Talking Dead2). According to the
legends the Irish are descended from the kingdom of Scythia and its
king, Feinius Farsaid. Feinius Farsaid and his son, Nel, went to Asia
to work on the Tower of Nimrod (aka Babel), after which they returned
and opened a school of languages. This school was so well known that
the Pharaoh of Egypt invited Nel to come and teach his people the new
languages of the world. While in Egypt Nel married Scota, the
Pharaoh's daughter and settled down. Years
later, after the Pharaoh drowned while pursuing "Moses and his band
of Hebrews," Nel's great-grandson Sru left Egypt with his son, Heber
Scot and returned to Scythia, where Heber Scot became
king3. It is entirely possible that Sru and Heber Scot
brought the game back with them. The only definite thing we know
about hurling is that this ancient game is the model for most Celtic
sports, including camogie, a female version, shinty, bandy or banty,
hockey, gaelic football, and modern hurling.

Many Irish legends mention hurling, but none mention its roots.
The sport has a major role in the legend of Cuchulainn, who was a
Herculean type of hero4. The legends, which were revived
from extinction by Sechan Torpeist, a 7th century bard, tells the
story of how Setanta, the nephew of King Conchobair Mac Neasa of
Ulster, receives the name of Cuchulainn:

Setanta journeys to his
uncle's court to join the boy's corps. He shortened his walk by
hurling his silver sliotar (ball) and then throwing his bronze
hurley stick after it. He would run and catch both the sliotar
and the hurley stick before they hit the ground. Soon he
arrived at court, and his hurling abilities amazed the boys of
the corps. Legend has it that he was able to score with ease
and when he guarded the goal he never let a shot in.

One day King Conchobair was invited to
a banquet at the house of Culainn and asked his nephew to join
him. Setanta agreed to go after he finished playing a hurling
game. While at the feast Culainn asked the king if all the
guests had arrived. King Conchobair, forgetting about Setanta,
said yes and Culainn unleashed his hound to guard the house.
When Setanta arrived at the feast the great hound leapt up to
attack him, but Setanta quickly hurled the sliotar at the hound
and it went down the beast's throat. The boy immediately
grabbed the stunned hound by his feet and smashed its head into
the floor of the stone courtyard killing him.

When the guests heard the baying of
the hound they ran outside and were surprised to see Setanta
alive and the beast dead. King Conchobair was overjoyed but
Culainn was sad at the loss of his favorite hound. Setanta
offered to find a hound worthy of the one he had slain and
vowed to guard Culainn's home until such an animal could be
found. Thus Setanta became known as Cuchulainn, which
translates to "the hound of Culainn".

Although the game often became violent and sometimes turned into
small battles, hurling became part of Irish culture. In 1366 the
Statutes of Kilkenny were passed to try to prevent the Anglo-Normans
from picking up Irish habits and culture. The Statutes outlawed
English/Irish marriages, and forbade the English from using the Irish
language, customs and laws. Of course this lead to a small problem
because hurling was very popular with the Normans. Although hurling
was banned, for both the Irish and the Norman English, games were
still played.

Finally in the 16th century a hurling ban was actually followed.
The Galway Statutes, dated at 1527, almost eliminated the game for
good. The statutes named "hokie," a game defined as hurling a little
ball with sticks, on the list of prohibited games. It is believed
that hurling was prohibited because of its violent nature and the
fact that small bloody battles usually followed a game. In it's place
the Irish began to play Gaelic Football, which is a hurling derived
form of soccer. Hurling wasn't revived until the 18th century.

The small hurling revival of the 18th century became known as the
golden age of hurling. For the first time organized games were
played, and inter-barony and inter-county leagues were formed.
Landlords promoted the game and supported their teams. The players
followed a strict code of honor on the field, and very few battles
broke out on the field, unlike the ancient games. In the late part of
the century, due to external factors, the gentry pulled their support
from the game, and this, being timed with the Great Famine, ended the
revival.

The late 19th century brought about a successful return of the
game. With the
founding of the Gaelic Athletic
Association (GAA) in 1884, hurling was once again the official
game of Ireland. The GAA organized local games, created leagues, and
for the first time created standardize rules for the game. The first
Senior Hurling Final, or the World Series for the Irish Hurling
Teams, was played in 1887. The late 19th century also saw rivals of
shinty, a Scottish version of hurling, and bandy, a Welsh version
played in Northern England, as well as the emergence of hockey.

It is no surprise that hurling traveled with the various peoples
that interacted with Ireland. It is believed that clansman practicing
shinty, the Scottish form of hurling, alone in the hills of the
Highlands led to the creation of golf. Bandy, a hurling game played
on ice, has become a popular in Scandinavia and the Russian states.
Field and ice hockey were created by Canadians who were influenced by
their Scot and Irish pasts. As hockey gains popularity in the United
States and Celtic-Americans welcome their pasts, hurling will
hopefully enjoy another golden age.

Notes:1It's my theory that Ruth, the
convert who married Boaz and was the grandmother of King David, was
from a Celtic tribe. It is known that King David had bright curly red
hair and blue eyes, something not normally found within the olive
skinned Semitic culture.

3 If you haven't figured it out yet,
the story continues to tell how the Scots were thrown out of Ireland
and how they came to be in Scotland. But that's another story. The
date is given for this book is 1150 AD, whether that means the tales
were written down in that year or were created in that year, I don't
know. If they were created in that year then it would make sense to
assume that the book was a way to take the pagan legends and merge
them with Biblical tales.

4 Cuchulainn (aka Setanta): A Celtic
hero/god whose story parallels Hercules. Born of a human father
(Sualtam) and an unknown women who may be a god, he had a spiritual
father-son relationship with the god Lugh. He studied under the
warrior goddess Scathach, and returned to Ulster as a great warrior.
He led the Red Branch, an of warriors whose exploits are related in
one of the cycles in Irish mythology. Cuchulainn is honored as a
pagan god and became semi-divine through his adventures. The Book of
the Dun Cow record may of his stories.